Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research

Thermal Fatigue of Solder Interconnects

Authors:

Hunter Elbourn, Amanda Schumacher

Mentor:

Anna Tivy, Professor of Math, California State University Channel Islands

The purpose of this project is to explain what happens to electronic devices, such as the main circuit boards in cellphones and mp 3 players, when they are put under multiple temperature changes and how it can affect their usage. Circuit boards can be thought of as the brain and skeleton of the device, it directs actions and holds the device together, so it is very important. The more amount of times the device goes from base temperature to hot will result in repeated expansion and contraction of the connectors on the circuit board. We analyze that decreasing the amount of times it is put under radical temperature changes will actually increase the life of the electronic device. We will demonstrate using examples that the greater the difference in the temperature needed to make the device expand slightly will result in a larger strain on the solder joint that will damage it long term.